Hir: A Play

by Taylor Mac

Finalist, 2015 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama 

Discharged from the Marines under suspicious circumstances, Isaac comes home from the wars, only to find the life he remembers upended. Isaac’s father, who once ruled the family with an iron fist, has had a debilitating stroke; his younger sister, Maxine, is now his brother, Max; and their mother, Paige, is committed to revolution at any cost. Determined to be free of any responsibility toward her formerly abusive husband—or the home he created—Paige fervently believes she can lead the way to a "new world order." Hir , Taylor Mac’s subversive comedy, leaves many of our so-called normative and progressive ideas about gender, families, the middle class—and cleaning—in hilarious and ultimately tragic disarray.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fiction, LGBT, Drama, Queer, Transgender

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2015

Reviews

[Kairan · Rating 3 out of 5]

its a pretty cool play but wow makes me feel a bit of a Way that this is the only trans masc play character ive ever read and its Like That

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a black comedy, this would be funnier if it were... funnier.

I'd always wanted to catch up with this 2015 play. I recall thinking, when it was produced that year, that it sounded like it would make for an unusual night at the theater. Alas, I no longer live in Manhattan so I only get to see NYC productions if they're filmed.

I would no doubt have enjoyed Kristine Nielsen in the leading role of Paige; she tends to be tops with wacky material.

However... reading the play now, I can only envision a rather unsatisfying experience. ~ aside from a sprinkling of inspired lines of dialogue.

The particular grouping of characters should have made for a surefire combination; the kind of nucleus that could write itself. But, alas, the playwright makes two significant errors.

1) The script is so sedentary in its talkiness that - from reading it - it's almost impossible to imagine much in the way of physical action that could make the play visually interesting.(i.e., anything augmenting in plot complication). The length of the play is pretty much (often repetitive) verbal shtick.

2) What physical action there *is* is mainly comprised of unfortunate, almost vaudevillian pranks: one character is called on to throw up in a sink regularly (which becomes tiresome, needlessly unsettling to watch, and is not all that easy for an actor to do) - and another (a stroke victim) is constantly blasted with a water spray (which is uncomfortable to watch: I realize the character was a real a-hole before his stroke, but still... it's a bit much). Both of those actions are examples of crudeness substituting for wit. ... Wit is always the better option.

Sadly, the play seems to begin to fizzle out before the 1st Act is done. From there on, it doesn't seem to go anyplace in particular; it starts chasing its energetic but pointless tail.

[Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the characters keeps literally throwing up into the kitchen sink throughout the play. this play is like that to kitchen sink dramas. it’s so good

[Tom Garback · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️
Critical Score: B-
Personal Score: D+

Not flattering to see that the one queer character is insufferably annoying. Meanwhile there is no plot, and the discourse is not interesting or clever enough to stand on its own.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Strong ending.

[river · Rating 1 out of 5]

gabriel armstrong what the fuck did I just read????

at what point do we as a society become so distasteful we surpass camp bc I think this did that

[Nicjjohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technically this is good in the sense that it's engaging, well-paced and interesting but it made me feel so deeply gross and horrible and sad and small. If you are nonbinary/trans I wouldn't read this unless you REALLY like yourself. My error

[Theo Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incisive and cutting - 'Hir' raises important questions about family & gender & America. The dialogue was witty and interesting, and hilarious.

[Angelique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. I wish I would have written it myself.

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

WTF did I just read

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow is this a dysfunctional family. A father who suffered a stroke and is kept in near torturous conditions by his wife who was abused by him for much of their marriage. A son who comes back from war where his job was picking up body parts of slain soldiers and now "pukes" constantly everytime he is spooked or upset. An indignant younger sibling who is focused solely on hir transition and all the indulgences around it. All wrapped in hilarious dialogue that at once makes fun of woke culture and its sensitivities while also skewering middle class phoniness and documenting/accepting some of the assumptions underlying that same woke culture, like patriarchal dominance and the like.

My own reading of this was shaped by the fact that I know the author is trans. Without that knowledge the unflattering description of the self-absorbed trans character and hir reading everything through the prism of non-binary theories (to the point of complaining about the transphobia of the story of Noah's arc) would have seemed a bit off putting and uncomfortable, but instead knowing the author's identity made it more legitimate and also made me reach for more sympathetic interpretations of what ze was trying to convey.

I should say, this is a play. I wish I had seen the performance but it reads really well, with a lot of bracketed italics telling you what the characters are thinking and more that read like it was for a reader, not a script for a play. And is a fast read.

[Emma Steiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most exciting plays I’ve read recently - I found it difficult to read (emotionally), and shockingly funny. I find it interesting that Isaac is the “control” character in the play, and I think it’s worth questioning why Paige and Max are more absurd (in this absurd reality world) than Isaac is.
I found this play was not so much about being a trans man and how that might affect your family (which is what I expected) but more so, an EXTREMELY unique take on a family drama after war and abuse. The dialogue is incredible.

[Donna Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play has been described as absurd reality. It’s definitely that. The oldest son returns home from war with PTSD, wanting to find everything the same as he left it. In this multilayered dysfunctional family, nothing is the same. It is a dark, tragic, and humorous two act play. Many social problems are briefly talked about, but does anything make sense?

Paige: You lose things. Important things. And you can’t get them back. And some of the things you say are lost, are actually gone.

[jamiereads92 · Rating 2 out of 5]

stressed me out in a bad way…..this was supposed to be absurd reality but it was so dark and also not funny at all. boo. tomato tomato

[Alex Chapes · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5⭐️

[Randall David Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throw out that kitchen sink, Taylor Mac! THROW IT!

[MsAprilVincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This comedy is so dark it's basically invisible.
〰
Isaac, a war veteran, returns to his home to find his dad's had a stroke, his mom's had a revelation, and his sibling Max is taking testosterone and using gender-nonconforming pronouns (hence the title of this play). Add Isaac's PTSD and a drug-related dishonorable discharge and you've got a pretty rough homecoming.
〰
Mom Paige is using Max's coming out as a way to "come out" herself, as a woman embracing life--and revenge. She wholeheartedly jumps into accepting Max's new life, maybe because she's bored, maybe because she sees it as vengeance on her racist, abusive, homophobic husband who can no longer take care of himself, let alone tell her what to do. I get the feeling that Paige accepts Max insofar as it is convenient for herself, using Max as an excuse to do all the things she was never able to do before. It seems very performative, which is probably intentional, since the playwright refers to this as "absurd realism," and I don't like absurdism so this was a stretch for me.
〰
I'd be interested in seeing this performed. Though the play is named for Max, Paige is the focal point and the most complex and overpowering character. In the hands of the wrong actress, it could turn bad in a hurry, but I don't want to see that; I want to see someone who can walk a fine line that makes me loathe and love Paige without going too far in either direction.

[Michael McClain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a play about moving with the times and charging ahead into the unknown. Taylor Mac ventures into the themes of identity, whether it's through gender, sexuality or personal renewal, with surreal humor and a tough love attitude. His is a powerful voice for queer theatre.

[Sophia M · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is thus far the only play I’ve read with any transmasc representation, and I’m excited by the possibilities for further representation this precedent sets. But, this play is a lot. It takes on so much, and in many ways, it feels like Max and ze’s storyline is more of a tool used to unsettle the audience rather than to authentically explore trans, non-binary experiences. I wanted to love this play but I’m just so-so on it for now.
Great stage directions.

-

Update after two rounds of reading this for grad school:

This play loses any and all steam around the end of the first act and is unable to pick it back up again. Taylor Mac attempts to squeeze so many social issues into this play that it feels like hardly any get the treatment they deserve including the trans representation.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some funny/absurd lines in this, but much of it reads/plays as a lecture about gender politics, the family and war - there is really very little dramatic action (unless you count constant vomiting as such!). It sounded interesting, from the reviews I read of the premiere production at the Magic Theatre in SF, but not terribly sorry I skipped it.

[Colin Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this play. However, unlike several of the plays I have read recently, Hir lacks subtlety and nuance. Too often, subtext functions as texts, which is a shame. I may read this play again because I suspect my response is a little too severe. Although for now, I am left feeling disappointed.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

only minor flaw is that Mac often over-explains to the director/actor/audience. just trust--people will get it. ultimately doesn't take away from what a force this play is.

[Kirsti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Play about transgender issues, PTSD, and elder abuse. The elder abuse parts really creeped me out--just because the dad was a tyrant when he was well doesn't mean they get to drug and humiliate him when he's sick.

[Tooba · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot going on in this play. I wish the play Ride would have focused primarily on sexuality OR their financial situation OR the disability aspect OR the domestic violence. It ended very fast as well and it just didn't give me that satisfaction when finishing it.

[Katlyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

there are so many things fundamentally wrong with this storytelling that I could not compile them into a review. How awful. So many things not researched properly like PTSD or drug addiction / generational trauma. What is even the point??

[Mikey Boyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt very strange in the way that they presented issac as the main character, as the proverbial straight man. By forcing us to agree with him, it paints his family as a villains, which makes it seem strange.

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was weird and not in a good way and would be a nightmare to stage, tbh.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

actual rating 3.5
This was quite the play. Mac produces a tumbling, near-absurd environment for his play to fill in hir. In his note at the beginning of the script, Mac says thatthis should be "absurd realism"--a realistic scenario taken all the way to the absurd outcome; plausibility and absurdity at one and the same time. The family and house feel the same, ramshackle, desperate, falling apart. Isaac and Paige face off throughout hir in desperation; each of them trying to heal their damaged souls with anger. They are diametrically opposed throughout the play: Isaac frantically trying to restore "order"--a clean house, his abusive father back "in charge", Max the sister he thought he had instead of the genderqueer sibling he has--and Paige reveling in disorder and manufactured freedom--forbidding Isaac to clean, dressing her once-abusive husband in nightgowns and makeup and dosing him with estrogen that wasn't prescribed while she imposes her way with slaps and squirt bottle, exulting in Max's transness and semi-fluidity in a way that give hir little to no agency over hir own identity (so much so that Isaac thinks Paige put Max up to this).
Max and Arnold are caught in the middle of this. Arnold is imbecilic after his stroke and Max spends the entire play being ordered about by hir brother and mother, sometimes going along, sometimes rebelling, sometimes cheerful, sometimes angry. The house is cluttered and messy and loud, but also strangely empty, as devoid of . . . something as it is implied to have been when Isaac went away. Everything is slowly coming apart at the seams. Paige is just waiting for the end of order so she can have her rigidly enforced squalor, depending on Max for the future when all Max wants is to convince everyone that hir gender is not, in fact, new, but rather very very old. Isaac tries to hold the present in the past, as violently, problematically, hopeful and as dangerously disillusioned as his mother. The arguments over homeschooling capture this--Paige insisting that she can homeschool because creationists are allowed to; Max declaring that ze is really teaching Paige even though Paige's insistence on appropriating all of Max's experiences makes her think she is teaching hir and all Isaac can do is insist that education must be completed within the educational system and that this whole arrangement is doomed. Everything is balanced on the edge and in the end, neither Paige nor Isaac emerges successful, Max is pained but holding on, and Arnold has slipped by the wayside. An extremely intense play, but a good one, with effective and quick dialogue that underscores the turmoil that these characters are attempting to simultaneously vocalize and suppress.

[Sarah Pitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing in this play didn't wow me, and not a whole lot happened that I found unexpected...but a I'm giving it four stars because I admire how Mac manages to keep stakes high even while functioning under a veneer of comedy. Every character has something to prove: Isaac that he can re-enter society as a functioning and compassionate person, Paige that she is capable of learning and understanding and creating things beyond what is expected of her, Max that xe understands hirself in ways that the world around hir cannot even qualify because our society is do damned tied to the gender binary that we struggle for words to express ourselves outside of it, Arnold that he at least remembers a time when he still held some semblance of dignity.

Until things are lost, it's not entirely evident what they are fighting for. At the end of the play, you realize it was everything.

I could have used a little more substance to the plot, draw out some ugly secrets that nobody wanted to hear instead of revealing that everyone knows everything right at the start. Nobody had a very hard time reconciling with the shattering changes that had become one another. The surprise of who these people truly are is mostly unraveled halfway through the first act. A few farcical moments overplayed. And a massive irk to me was the amount of goddamn stage directions line descriptors. Distracting to read and unneeded most the time.

Purely for character motivation and internal/external conflict balance, this play does a lot. I admire Taylor Mac's humor and candor and that Mac knows when to step back and take a serious moment. Also the absolute zero fucks Mac gives about any sort of writing expectations or rules (check out judy's bio, it's quite the statement: https://taylormac.org/).

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice critique, but where tf do people find this type of shit to write about!?! This book was insanity. It was so plain and without much of anything in particular. It was like a bland book. It got the point across, but with a lot of work still needed. Oh and I definitely agree with a review I read that this as a play would be a nightmare to watch. Such boring story. I’m still so confused as to whether ir not it’s satire, because it was quite messy with ok much to say in a way. The crazy mom, the PTSD veteran, the transgender delusional little brother, and invalid dad. Like whattt.